Archive for the 'Anglicanism' Category

An Anglican Essentials List? The beginnings of a Catholic Anglican Manifesto

Published by
DWM
at 08/13/2008 3 Comments

A friend here in DC directed my attention to this list (of propositions, basically) that the author deems essential for an Anglican dialogue with Rome. Click the link to see the list. Anyway, this list got emailed around and struck a kind of debate not so much about ecumenical dialogue with Rome, but rather a kind of “what do you need to hold to be Anglo-catholic”… that sort of thing.

Aside from my contempt for these kinds of lists – I don’t think any list of propositions can get at the essence of something like Anglicanism… unless you’re talking about the creeds, and they’re not lists! – it got me thinking about what Anglicanism essentially is. Back when Orombi wrote his like op. piece for First Things (which they’ve still not provided a counter piece to, thank you very much!), I wrote about it here, alluded to it here, and argued about it at Per Caritatem. Orombi lodges the essence of Anglicanism in the Scriptures and the Martyrs. I pointed out then that it’s unusual, I think, for him, an Anglican Archbishop, to provide a definition of Anglicanism which omits any reference to common prayer. Moreover, as one Anglican theologian today will say, if you want to know Anglican theology, read Anglican poets. It’s a messy state of affairs, but it’s Anglicanism. Not having a CDF or a Curia is not a dispensable part of who we are. The prayerbook, however, is indispensable.

JADR in a recent manifesto wrote here:

Catholic Anglicanism is the Christendom of the imagination. It’s a utopian project. It’s a church that never was and never really has been. You can’t find it in the phone book or even on the web. And you definitely can’t find it in the newspapers. I read in the UK´s Guardian the other day about the alternative conservatives: GAFCON. It´s a conservative gaffe, all right. Read the signs. It’s time for Anglicans to come clean. We’re the church of the drunks, the homos, the dandys, the dreamers. We pray like Warhol made paintings. Because we like images.

Here at TLOU, it seems it’s becoming our claim that there’s something important about images, art, and prayer that must be reckoned with before you throw up a smoke screen of propositions. So, that said, I think it’s as good a time as any to pick up the question that Cynthia began last year. But I don’t want to ask just what is Anglicanism, but rather what is at the core of Anglicanism? Jump in…

Unlike
Print This Post

The Global South Bishops and Lambeth Restrictions

Published by
DWM
at 07/28/2008 0 Comments

This cleared up something that had been bothering me and seemed to bother others. From the Church Times, via Thinking Anglicans

Bishop Mwamba described the situation as it had been in Uganda, “where a special Synod is organised and provision passed which would penalise any bishop coming to the Lambeth Conference. That denied freedom of expression in terms of any individual bishop. The invitation to Lambeth is in the gift of the archbishop and it is up to a particular bishop, not a particular province, to say I will come or I won’t come.

“What are we saying about our leadership styles? It was the same in Nigeria- many would have been glad to come. So when they say 200 of our brothers have boycotted the conference – definitely no. Maybe given the freedom, one or two would have stayed behind. It must be clearly understood: the reason why they didn’t come is that they were forced not to come.” He finds it therefore a paradox that while they stay at home, some of the American allies who have been working with them – for example, Bishop Robert Duncan and others – are here…

Unlike
Print This Post

Optimus Prime on GAFCON

Published by
DWM
at 07/25/2008 0 Comments

The Anglican Scotist directs our attention to Optimus Prime’s piercing critique of the GAFCON document and its attack on the Anglican Covenant, found at the Rev. Canon Kendall Harmon’s excellent blog. OP makes the especially perceptive point that the Covenant is not in itself a “fix” for current problems, but rather an something like an prolegomena or architecture for how churches in the communion relate to one another. It’s subtle but extremely important re: our expectations.

ADDITIONALLY: a link offered by 3rd Mill. Catholic analyzing the GAFCON.

Unlike
Print This Post

Anglo-Catholic blogger discovered!

Published by
DWM
at 07/22/2008 0 Comments

Head on over to haligweorc, a blog I discovered thanks to 3rd Mill. Catholic, who i discovered thanks to Per Caritatem. I was especially delighted to read the quite funny post “Faux Catholic.” Those of you that are still not quite sure what being Anglo-Catholic entails, as is the case with most Anglo-Catholics I know, will definitely get a kick out of it. One of the coolest things about this strange blogging culture is learning that there are other people out there going through situations quite similar to your own. A rather virtual support group.

Unlike
Print This Post

Still More on Anglican Orthodoxy

Published by
DWM
at 07/21/2008 1 Comment

Fr. Dan Dunlap has responded to Fr. Al Kimmel’s critique (see original post at Per Caritatem for the back story). He ultimately argues for a sense of catholicism in the Anglican Communion that is similar to things I’ve said in the past, that Anglican orthodoxy stems in a big way from the common prayer practices by the anglican faithful everyday and throughout the centuries. He also argues that Kimmel’s picture of a homogenous unity in the RC, as purported by many Anglican converts to Rome, is a less than accurate. Here’s a snippet of his post:

Anglicanism has never made a claim of ecclesial ultimacy, and so defines itself not as the Catholic Church, but rather as a catholic church, and thus recognizes the other two communions as legitimate branches of “the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.” Unlike Fr. Kimel, I see this as Anglicanism’s greatest strength, not its weakness. And if it survives the present struggles, then it will only be that much stronger. You see, believe it or not, I still believe in “common prayer catholicity,” Continue reading ‘Still More on Anglican Orthodoxy’

Unlike
Print This Post

Anglican orthodoxy: “too much” of a good thing

Published by
DWM
at 07/19/2008 1 Comment

continuing a theme started by Cynthia’s post and subsequent discussion here….

Giles Fraser has an interesting reflection in the most recent church times on the recent vote for women in the episcopate. For me, it confirms that one of the most significant yet unexplored issues at play here is a fundamental miscommunication over what orthodoxy is and is not. And not merely in terms of the issues – ie. women or no women in the episcopate. Instead, the question should be “how do we conceptually (dare I say, metaphysically?) go about the business of articulating orthodoxy.” Continue reading ‘Anglican orthodoxy: “too much” of a good thing’

Unlike
Print This Post

Anglicans and orthodoxy

Published by
DWM
at 07/17/2008 3 Comments

Cynthia at Per Caritatem pointed to a couple blog posts on recent affairs in the Anglican Communion. She also asked for other links to Anglican reflections. Besides my link to NT Wright’s article on GAFCON, there were a couple comments on the state of affairs. I suggest you read the comments yourself as I won’t be quoting directly.

In any case, as an Episcopelian theology student and instructor who considers himself to be practicing orthodoxy, I’m getting a little tired of the straw-man claims that TEC and the Anglican Communion have been possessed by the heresy demons. Continue reading ‘Anglicans and orthodoxy’

Unlike
Print This Post

Intimacy and History

Published by
DWM
at 07/11/2008 15 Comments

At the end of spring term, I had my students sit for a conversational final, during which I had the appalling realization that the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ made absolutely no difference to them in terms of the way they view humanity or ethics. That is, when asked what difference Jesus makes, they all basically invoked WWJD (who was Jack Daniels?). After tearing out large chunks of hair in front of them because it had taken me until the end of the semester to pick up on this tragedy, I pulled myself together and started asking questions tailored specifically toward trying to understand how they could’ve adopted such a superficial perspective. Continue reading ‘Intimacy and History’

Unlike
Print This Post

Happy (belated) Birthday Abp. Ramsey

Published by
DWM
at 02/24/2008 0 Comments

Ramsey & Paul VIFriday was the 105th birthday of Arthur Michael Ramsey, the 100th Archbishop of Canterbury. Author of numerous classics like The Gospel and the catholic church, Ramsey is often considered one of the outstanding archbishops. Ramsey assumed the throne of Augustine in 1961 at the onset of the Vatican II proceedings, and served until Dec. 1974. He was the first Abp of Canterbury to meet with the roman pontiff since the Church of England broke ties with Rome. At that meeting, Paul VI presented his episcopal ring to Ramsey, and unprecedented ecumenical gift in the strained relations between the Church of England and the Roman Church. Ramsey’s brand of forward thinking and ecumenical achievements married to a healthy orthodoxy paved the way for his successor Donald Cogan to establish a broader ministry to the world and to make headway with the ordination of women.

Unlike
Print This Post

Alan Jacobs on Anglicanism

Published by
DWM
at 01/01/2008 2 Comments

Happy New Year to all, and to all a goodnight. But first, a short post.

Alan Jacobs is cool, almost unassailably so (his leaving TEC, considered), and shows us how it done Anglican style in the current issue of B&C, here. Jacobs points out, as I agree, that this is an exciting, yet trying, time to be Anglican; a time, he quotes Bonhoeffer here, for “prayer and righteous action.”

A choice excerpt for your reading pleasure, and then, later, after the alchohol has worn off, read the rest of the article. While I might not feel as pessimistic as he, his final thoughts are worth getting to.

…I remind myself that the churches of the Anglican world are governed by bishops, and I am not a bishop. One of the chief reasons I have held firm to Anglicanism over the years is that I believe that the threefold order of ministry—bishop, priest, and deacon—is the model taught by the apostles, the governance particularly approved by God. In this model I, as a layman—even though I am also a member of the priesthood of all believers—have a highly circumscribed role. If my pastor asks me to teach, I teach; otherwise I shut up. In the unlikely (and unwelcome) event of a bishop of the Church asking for my thoughts I would share them; otherwise I keep them to myself, at least in public. The decisions that will shape the future of the Anglican Communion will be made by bishops, not by laypeople, nor even by priests; if I care about that Communion—and I do—I had best be praying for those bishops, and not repeating the error of Job in darkening counsel by words without knowledge.

I told you he was cool.

Unlike
Print This Post